I tried out one of my sickle bars on the Super 3 the other day and when I got into some weeds the clutch started slipping .. The set-up I was using was just a chain to pull the clutch in so it had all slack when engaged . I'm going to take it apart to check but thought I would ask if anyone had any suggestions on doing it, I do had a parts sickle bar I might be able to just the clutch discs from if needed , thanks Al

I believe if the gap is too narrow between the top of the knife and the rock guard that can cause "choking". Also, check that the knife clips are keeping the knives down against the cutting edge of the rock guard.

it possible that you slugged it, but im thinking the clutch don't have enough pressure on it. Might try putting a spring in with the chain to keep the slack out. Finding an original control rod is hard, but there is at least one guy I know who makes a repo one.

it possible that you slugged it, but im thinking the clutch don't have enough pressure on it. Might try putting a spring in with the chain to keep the slack out. Finding an original control rod is hard, but there is at least one guy I know who makes a repo one.

Do you mean the control rods need to have pressure to help the sickle bar clutch keep from slipping ? Would that be the same as the handles/rods for the drive on the spring clutch machines ? I did get the rod but couldn't find it the other day so just put the chain on to try .

Found the problem why the clutch was slipping ,, there wasn't any friction material on either side of the pulley . I had a parts sickle bar that one had a cast pulley but the disc worked , On the other 3 sickle bars I have this is the only cast one . Cleaned off the contact surfaces and it works fine now . I'm guessing the cast pulley might have been a very early one and they went to die cast so the friction material wouldn't rust fast to the pulley also notice the die cast pulley has the drive lugs for the friction disc to lock on and the cast iron/steel doesn't .

I didn't mention but this was the sickle bar that came with the 600 and it seemed to shake more on that then it does now with the older DB with the B&S engine , you can just back off throttle on the little B&S so slow. I would like to have one of those non-contact tachs to see just how many rpms these engines low idle and to set full rpms . Some day lol

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You may feel more shake on the 600 because of the more rigid two piece frame construction it has. I still prefer using the sickle on the two piece frame tractors though. I think all that shaking is what causes the cracks that are so common on the hoods.